Catharsis Of Yearning
by Ethriel
Summary: Welcome to Midwich, a small isolated town surrounded by woods and darkness. Surrounded, but unable to turn back, Team Delta must follow the path set forth by Team Gamma, and confront the beasts who lurk in the darkness. Yaoi
1. Prologue: Team Gamma

Catharsis Of Yearning

-

I am deeply apologetic folks, about my severe neglect of my account. I started to write this a while back, but it faded into the oblivion of writer's block, as did the rest of my fics, which is why there have been no updates and death threats to yours truly from the beloved Tala-Baby. Once again, I am sorry, and I hope you will forgive me, I am trying to get things back on track. This fic was inspired by psychotic guitar, a line about pants my brain thought up while watching Doom, and of course the ever classic Resident Evil. Enjoy, and please R&R.

-

The tape crackled. As a result, the voices did too. Unfortunately, no amount of cracking could drown out the popping of gunfire, the screams of terror from the men, the echoes of an unidentified explosion. Even with all the commotion in the background, the frantic yells of the radio-operator were crystal clear. "_We need back-up! Send reinforcements 2 clicks North-West of Midwich! Fuck!"_ The transmission was interrupted by the sounds of more gun fire before another voice, muffled, could be heard calling in the background. "_We are low on ammo and need immediate assistance! We need a MEDEVAC and—"_

"_Move, damn you!"_ Another voice, stronger, growling out the order, and the sounds of shuffling and sporadic gunfire. "_Shit!"_

"_Man down! Man down!"_ A third voice called clearly.

The fourth identified a name. "_Raul! No!"_

"_Martinez! Get back here!...No! That's a damn order!" _The second voice barked.

"_He's not moving!" _The fourth voice responded, clearer than before.

"_Give it an hour! Let's get the hell out of here!" _A new voice suggested frantically, and a burst of gunfire sounded.

"_Get down!" _A sixth voice spoke up, and the males who sat in the room mentally noted that only two voices remained unheard from the team of eight. The explosion must have been a strong one, as they heard a small grunt and the hurried scrabble of a man getting back to his feet. Everything was hushed for a while, suggesting the team were moving, and had managed to put a bit of distance between themselves and their pursuers.

What could have put Gamma Team on the run and have them calling for back-up? They were one of the best trained units in the world, and had been on more missions than the team sitting within the room listening to their latest exploit. Then again...Team Gamma were the exact reason Team Delta had not seem as much action – Team Delta were only called in when another team either fucked up, or needed backing up. It was the FUBU system with them. Only when one –or both- had occurred did the second team get called in.

The silence broke.

"_What the fuck..."_

There was growling in the background, and the second voice spoke. "_Do not move."_

"_Don't move?!"_ The fifth voice mimicked, outraged.

"_He's right."_ The third replied lowly. "_We move, it attacks...whatever the fuck __**it**__ is."_

"_We stay still we're sitting ducks." _The voice of the radio-operator pointed out.

"_Martinez, you wanted to move before. Do it. Make a run for the left flank."_ The second voice commanded in a low, slightly mocking, tone. "_When it's attention is focused on you, we kill it."_

"_What if it kills me first?"_

"_..."_

There were a few moments of tense silence, and when it drew out, the rooms occupants began to wonder if Martinez had disobeyed the direct order. But then there was the soothing sound of gunfire, and the voice that seemed to be in command spoke up once more. "_Move out. There's supposed to be a mansion nearby. If we get that far, we can barricade ourselves in and figure out what the fuck we're going to do. Kenny, will you turn that radio off?"_

"_Sir, I've called for back-up and—"_

"_You called for back-up without my express permission? What the __**fuck**__ were you thinking? We are dealing with this!"_

"_Tell that to Raul." _The fourth voice snapped.

"_Quit bitching and start moving Martinez. I've about had it with you."_

At this point there was a soft clunk, signalling the radio had been shut-off, and moments later their C.O stepped to the front of the room. "This message was received at 1600 hours yesterday, three hours after their deployment. Since then we have had no communication with Team Gamma, which we should have as soon as they were secured. Originally they were sent out on a sight-seeing mission, but whatever threat is out there is greater than we imagined. Your mission objectives are simple Team Delta. Number 1: Find and neutralise all hostiles – **no **exceptions. 2: Search and bring home Team Gamma. 3: Come home alive, men."

Nodding to the indigo-haired male seated beside him, the commander turned towards the door. Standing up with the grace of nobility and the posture of his rank, Robert Jorgen, commander and leader of Delta Team, stared down at his men. "Yesterday Gamma Team made an utter mess out of their mission. It began when their 'copter crashed in the woods surrounding Midwich. We are going by the likely assumption that they never made it into Midwich, and have instead set out towards the mansion their commander mentioned."

Tala Ivanov, twenty-four years old and a rookie by Robert's standards, raised his hand, and received a nod permitting him to speak. "Why are we going by the assumption that they never made it? We don't have the exact location of **where** the chopper crash-landed. For all we know they wound up in one of the local's backyards."

Robert offered the younger male an indulgent smile. "There was almost a two-hour break of communication between the base and them. It first happened when the pilot, Brooklyn Roark, called signalling us there was some kind of disturbance, and his helicopter was going down fast. Between the time of the crash and the transmission we just heard, there was about an hour and a half in-between. Now, in a crash, there are always injuries –even of the smallest sort- that need to be dealt with. That would take at least twenty minutes. I'm sure you know how long it would take to walk and-or run three clicks, Ivanov?"

"Yes, sir."

"At least an hour, am I correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"The timeframe shows that they either landed far out in the woods and made an attempt to go back, but were cut off by whatever enemy is out there, or they ended up nearby but were busy checking over their wounded when the attack started. Considering the one person we didn't hear speak or mentioned was the pilot, it's safe to assume he's dead or so seriously injured he could not be moved from the chopper."

Tala nodded his acceptance of this explanation and settled back in his seat.

"Our plan of action is simple, we will drive out there. Yes, it will take a little longer, but if that disturbance is still going on the last thing we need is another crash which might not have so few casualties. We will stop outside the town, and from there abandon the truck. We'll proceed on foot through the town, and after securing that area we'll head out into the woods. As we speak satellites are being used to try and pinpoint the location of the chopper, and once they find it we'll follow Gamma Team on from there.

As our commanding officer pointed out, any hostile we come across is to be perceived as dangerous, and to be disposed of with deadly force. There are to be no warning-shots. One command to surrender, and if they do not, you take them out by any means necessary. Any further questions?"

The seven other members of Delta Team remained dutifully silent, and Robert smiled.

"Then gear up. We leave in an hour."

-

This is the prologue -.-;; Don't like it very much, but hopefully it'll get better as things move along. Oh, and so I don't have to say it again; I do not own Beyblade, Resident Evil or anything else.


	2. Chapter 1: Blood And Bullets

Catharsis Of Yearning Chapter 1

-

Midwich was just like any other small town that served only one purpose. There were only two main roads, one that ran vertically through the middle of the town, and one that ran horizontally. The dirt and dust transformed into a smooth stretch of granite, and Tala wondered if it was because of the small populace that the road was missing potholes. Two-storey white buildings lined each strip of side-walk, some with signs separating them as a grocery store, another as a bait shop, another as a hotel. It was mostly houses though.

The town's sole purpose was to keep some company running efficiently, but which company in particular was unknown to the members of Delta Team. Their boss had never asked, and neither had anyone else, so why should it matter? They had a purpose, so everyone assumed they were living up to it...until all communication between Midwich and home base was lost. The first sent out to investigate the radio silence had been two uniforms, Officer Harris and Officer Davies. From the moment they stepped out of the squad-car until the moment Gamma Team was sent in, they were never heard from.

And now, after Team Gamma's failure, Team Delta had been sent in to clean up the mess. But Tala couldn't understand it, and as he and Eddie headed back to the single crossroad in town, their point for regrouping, he could tell Eddy was just as confused. "What's up?" He asked softly, voice carrying on the gentle breeze to reach the usually jovial male by his side. The 26-year-old weapons expert started, then he focused upon the curious cyan blues that stared back intently.

"It's Friday night man. Sun's goin' down, twelve more hours 'til it comes back up, and the place is deserted. There's fight's to pick, drugs to take and whore's to fuck. Instead we got a graveyard. I don't like it."

Tala nodded slightly in agreement, and though he had never been in the town before, he understood what the elder soldier meant. "So where d'you think everyone is?"

"Town meeting?" Another redhead responded, deadpan. "Wherever the hell they are, they ain't here. Giancarlo and I found the cop car," he inclined his head where the road branched off towards East, "nothing else besides some empty houses and open doors."

"Looks like we got the supermarket, the cathouse, and the other official buildings." Eddie muttered, shaking his head. While Johnny may have understood the silent message, Tala didn't catch it and so swept his eyes towards the North Road.

"Where are Robert and the others?"

"Still moving North. Our orders were to follow them to the Town Hall once we re-grouped." Eddie glanced at Tala, and after a moment followed his gaze towards where Johnny had indicated the black-and-white had been stopped. "Something wrong Ivanov?"

The blue eyes blinked before he turned to his elders, shaking his head slightly. "Just wondering where the cops might be. Was there any sign that the car had been attacked?"

"No." Johnny nudged Eddie forward, and Enrique smiled slightly at Tala as they set off towards the Town Hall, rolling his eyes at the Scot's brusque and undetailed reply.

"What Johnny means Tala is that the windows weren't smashed, the doors were closed and locked, and there was no blood nearby. We figure that wherever the cops went as soon as they left the car, they weren't forced there, and they certainly didn't go near the car again. We can tell that by the lack of signs of a struggle, the fact that the keys aren't laying around, and once again the obvious tell-tale sign of no blood. Shoot, stab, hell even strangle, you leave blood behind."

"So where'd they go? Out for a stroll? I mean Jesus am I the only one who thinks that if they were going to walk, they'd have left the car **here**, at the cross-road rather than out at the Eastside of town?"

"Maybe they saw something. Maybe one went for a shit and the other followed and they got lost in the woods. Who the fuck knows? We're here to neutralise any hostiles and bring back Gamma Team, nothing more." Johnny muttered. "Shit I shouldn't even be here."

"Hit the bottle a little hard last night, Johno?" Eddie smirked.

"More like the bottle hit me." The redhead remarked dourly, scowling darkly at the scenery as they trudged towards the Town Hall and where Robert and the others would be waiting. "Clair walked out last night, but not before hurling anything she could lift at me."

This cracked Eddie up and he had to stop and lean on Tala for support as he cackled his mirth.

"Yeah, yeah Eddie very funny. Laugh it up wiseass."

"I always said that girl had good aim." He quipped, and fell into another bout of laughter.

Tala smiled slightly and shook his head, having never met the woman who had had the patience to live with Johnny. He hadn't been on the team long enough to have met the partners of his colleagues, or go on night's out or enjoy a BBQ in the backyard while the kids ran riot and paddled in the pool. His training had been completed only six months before, and the test missions and everyday work had never counted towards what the team had been founded for. No, this was to be his first mission. Today, as Eddie had so eloquently put it, his cherry would be popped.

He had never been excluded from the group because of his lack of experience, in fact the others had gone out of their way to try and lure him on wild nights out. When the team effort had failed, they even tried offering one-on-one nights out, even trips for coffee or to talk shop over a brew in a nearby bar. Tala had always politely declined not because of the members of the team, but because of his own insecurity and feelings of inadequacy. He had yet to prove himself to this group of vets, for he had only trained under Robert for the final six and a half weeks of his year-long training. Until he proved himself to them, he knew he would never believe he belonged in their close-knit family.

For though Johnny was grouchy and Eddie would take any chance he could to crack a joke at everyone's expense, that was what they were. A highly dysfunctional family, but a family that never failed and stuck together no matter what.

"Hold up!" Enrique exclaimed, holding up a hand to stop Tala, and catching the attention of the bickering pair behind them. "What the **fuck** is that?"

"What's what?" Eddie blinked, looking in the direction Enrique was staring. Johnny, on the other hand, was not one for such precautions and barked a short 'Cover me' as he slowly approached the glittering object beside one of the houses on the right side of the street. Obediently they took up positions, Tala watching the way they had been headed, Eddie watching the way they had come, and Enrique scanning the area surrounding Johnny.

"It's a...a...Jesus! Get over here!"

The remaining three cautiously approached the redhead, still watching all of the nearby area vigilantly, until the stopped by Johnny's side, glancing down at the grass where he knelt. "What the..." Eddie began, but the words seemed to catch in his throat.

"...it's a shield. 8930 Officer Harris. There's blood on it."

"I guess it's safe to assume they didn't get lost in the woods while taking a dump." Tala sighed, shaking his head as he stared down at the shiny badge held in Johnny's blood-stained fingertips. The older redhead's eyes glittered like cold amethyst stones, locked on the woods that edged the neatly trimmed backyards.

"Maybe they didn't get lost, but the blood says Harris, at least, was either running or carried through here and into the woods. See the marks?" He pointed them out specifically to the younger redhead, who nodded and crouched down beside him. He chewed his lower lip for a moment, wondering whether or not to voice his opinion, but having seen the contemplative gaze of the younger male Johnny took the initiative. "You disagree with my theory?" He asked, his voice level but curious.

A lean shoulder lifted slightly before dropping in a forced attempt at a casual shrug, and Tala swallowed thickly before he replied. "The grass, it's all squashed down. Some of the dirt underneath has been kicked up, and there's marks, but not footprints. I'd say he was dragged into the woods, maybe by Davies. But I'm about 90 certain that whoever was bleeding was dragged, not walking, and not carried."

Johnny smirked, gave a curt nod, and rose to his feet. "Opinion seconded, well noticed." He praised, giving Tala's shoulder a squeeze with his free hand as he pocketed the badge and shoved him along. "Robert taught you well."

Tala made a soft sound in the back of his throat, but was otherwise silent as they continued their trek.

-

"How long will supplies last?"

"A few days. A week tops if we ration, but beyond that..."

"...we're screwed...Keep this between us Kenny, this is the last thing they need to hear right now, especially after Raul and Brooklyn."

"What about the back-up Sir? Won't they...?"

"You assume they'll make it this far. Those lazy sons-of-bitches take the credit for our hard work. Don't put too much faith in them...is the radio still in working order?"

"No, it was damaged by the blast. The satellite is shot to shit, it'll only keep close range now. I'd say...three-hundred feet radius. Anything outside that and we'll be in the dark...are we going to die?"

"..."

"What if there was more food? Somewhere in the mansion?"

"Would you honestly eat anything you found in here? Do you think they would? I suppose if they got hungry enough they might, but there's still the risk it's infected."

"What about the things? They seem cannibalistic...do you think if we secured ourselves in this room, waited it out, that they might starve?"

"Kenny why the heck are you asking me these questions like I have the fucking answers? I know just about as much as you. Judging by their intelligence, which seems to be about that of an infant, yes, they might. But their **instincts** Kenny, you saw the way they were. Like sharks, as soon as they caught the scent of blood they locked in on it, they attack like wolves – in groups. If they can't find a food-source here, they'll travel further, and they'll spread the infection."

"So what you're saying is..."

"...we have to finish the mission. Otherwise, this might just get worse."

-

The Town Hall was not as impressive as it sounded. There were no blindingly white pillars, there were no remarkable white steps or great bronzed statues flanking the entrance. It was just another half-assed unremarkable building in a tiny town. "You think you shouldn't be here, Johnny?" Enrique remarked drily as they walked. "I'm a pilot for Gods sake. **I** shouldn't be here when there's no damn helicopter to fly."

Johnny snorted as they walked in the opened front doors, shaking his head as he muttered curses under his breath. He silenced himself, however, when they found the remaining team members in the main reception, Robert glancing up from a large leather-bound ledger to arch a brow. All in the room knew that the eyebrow was raised in regards to the Scot's foul language, and aforementioned Scot rolled his eyes. "Did you find anything?" Robert asked, returning to the ledger before him.

"No people, Johnny and I found the squad-car, down the east intersection...err...we found a badge as well...Officer Harris's...it was bloodstained, and a trail led to the woods. Eddie and Tala say they found nothing at the Westside, so I'd say we were pretty much alone out here. Did you guys find anyone?"

"No one. There was a bloody office back there, a few broken windows, but no bodies. I had Rei run over to the police department and pick up their log, the last entry was ten days ago. It was a death, unexplained, in the woods. No clues had been found, the body was brought to the morgue for an autopsy, and then nothing. No complaints, no disturbances...if it wasn't for the bloodstained office, I would suspect the people had just packed up and moved on. However, there is another problem."

"What's that then?" Johnny sighed, settling down on a desk which probably once had the pamphlets scattered across the floor stacked neatly atop it. Several chairs lay overturned or on their sides, a potted plant laying broken on the floor, the soil loose. The plants roots poked out of the almost black dirt obscenely, grasping at the air like desperate fingers.

"...Rei?"

The Neko-jin sat in a corner behind the reception desk and had gone largely unnoticed til Robert had drawn attention to him. Slowly he raised his head, staring at everyone from over his folded arms, which rested atop his knees. He took a deep breath, held it for a moment as he tried to think how he could possibly explain, and let it out in a large sigh, shaking his head in confusion as he lowered his eyes to an invisible spot on the floor. "...whatever happened here, most of it happened in that police station. T-There was blood...blood everywhere...all over the floor, jeez I could have skated in it there was so much...and shells...lots of spent shells...from shotguns, from pistols...hell I think I even saw some rifle ammo lying around in there..."

"I get the feeling there's a but here somewhere." Johnny interrupted impatiently, but after a sharp glare from Robert he silenced himself once more, rolling his eyes in contempt at the way Rei was behaving, at how grossly he was overreacting, and how he was acting as if he'd never seen a little blood before.

"Continue Rei." The indigo haired commander ordered gently, closing the ledger as weary russet eyes lifted to lock with the confused crystal blue's of the rookie of their team, evident worry flashing inside the normally composed orbs.

"...there were nothing else...nothing anywhere...just blood and bullets..."


	3. Chapter 2: Darkness Comes REPOSTED

Catharsis of Yearning Chapter 2

Authors note: After a long hiatus, I have finally returned (I hope!) There has been a small change, instead of 8 members of Delta Team, there are only 6. Hope this doesn't cause too much confusion, but it has been a while, my notes are lost, and I cannot for the life of me remember the two remaining characters of the team. Thanks to TalaBaby, the most awesome of friends and inspirer of the uninspired.***Added Note* **Thanks to ShadedRouge for informing me of failure to add " ' and - into my previous upload.

-

Blood and bullets.

They did not need to go any further than the threshold of the police department to see that Rei had been correct. For a moment, standing in the double doorway, no one dared enter the reception room painted so red with blood that even the most productive abattoir would have been put to shame. The floor, the walls, the desk, none were spared the grotesque overcoat. Bullets lay scattered amongst the blood, making the floor resemble a morbid 'connect-the-dots' puzzle without an answer. Then, after a few nervous shuffles, Robert straightened –unnecessarily- and made the first few steps. Blood smeared under his booted foot, a streak of grimy white linoleum that was quickly overcome by the pool moments later. The indigo-haired male turned, frowning slightly, and sighed. "We aren't going to find out what happened standing on the threshold gentlemen. Move."

When no one moved, and several glances were exchanged, Johnny stepped forward, rather reluctantly. "With all due respect Robert, Rei has already been in there. From what I can see, there's nothing here. Rei brought the log-book, we saw it, and we know this is probably where it all went down. What more is there to gain from going inside?" Johnny and Robert had been friends a long time, but that did not stop the older male from glowering darkly.

"We have a job to do, Johnny. Now, I don't care if we find nothing in here, we have our orders, and our orders are to search everywhere. If you wish to remain outside, you are free to do so…in fact, you are all free to do so," here he rotated his glare around the group of men, one at a time, lingering long enough to assure them of his seriousness, "but whoever stays will meet disciplinary action when we return to base. You will be suspended for two weeks, no pay, as a minimum for your insubordination. I leave the decision, and your careers, in your own hands." Without another glance, he turned on his heel and strode towards the door that would lead them further into the department, thumbing the safety off his weapon as he disappeared into the gloom beyond.

Taking a deep breath, for the smell of copper and pennies was almost overpowering, Tala took a step inside. Moving slowly, he headed in the same direction that Robert had, trying to stop the shaking of his hands by gripping his rifle tighter. He felt the cool steel slide between his clammy fingers, but forced himself forward. Behind he could hear a few mutters, and unsure of how far ahead Robert had gotten, moved faster, not wanting to be alone between the horrid known, and the terrifying unknown.

He cursed loudly as his foot snagged on something beside the door, and his arm snapped out, searching for something to latch on to. Strong fingers curled around his arm and yanked him up, and he bit back another curse at the pain that shot up his arm at the jerky movement. Looking up, he saw Robert staring down at him wordlessly. Confused, Tala straightened and turned, his mouth going dry at the sight before his eyes.

How Rei had gotten through the door was a mystery, with chairs, tables, book cases, desks, even a refrigerator stacked precariously behind them. Someone, or something, had clearly managed to break the barricade, and whatever it was had not been friendly. Bloody handprints decorated the walls like a child's finger-paintings, some smeared almost beyond recognition, others piled one on top of the other, as if the owner had slapped the same spot repeatedly. Scraps of clothing lay scattered about the floor, a strip of pink silk, a swatch of red-and-black flannel, a shred of dark cloth that Tala suspected once belonged to a policeman's uniform.

Broken glass lay scattered around the left side of the room, throwing rainbows around the walls from the threads of light creeping in through the boarded up windows. The stench of death and decay was strong in the air, but they could not see the cause. Images of bloated cadavers, of mangled road kill, of torsos ripped open and swarmed by maggots and flies flashed before his eyes, and his tongue darted out to moisten his lips. "Jesus." He whispered.

"Thank you." Robert murmured after a few moments, deciding not to comment upon the state of disarray the room was in. Stating the obvious was not required at this point and time, it was quite clear that the people of the town had tried to hold out against something. At this thought his hand returned to his weapon, russet eyes trailing around the room, analyzing and searching for clues he doubted they would find. The rookie's voice broke him from his task.

"For what?"

"Following. I don't want to punish them, I can understand their reluctance…but we have to search. We have to know what happened here…do you have a flashlight?"

Tala nodded and swallowed thickly, staring at the floor as he reached for the small cylinder by his side. He pushed the switch and extended it to Robert, who shook his head. He dared not direct it around the room, worried about what might be exposed when the darkness was forced back. "What do we do now?"

-

"Look around, see what we can see. Check the offices, the desks, the computers…Someone might have written something not in the log. You start down here, I'll go up back, we'll meet in the middle."

"We shouldn't split up. Regulation states that when splitting up there should be at least two men per team."

"I know…but I think we can agree that neither of us want to be in here longer then necessary. Now go on."

Sighing, but knowing he could not win, he glanced quickly at his surroundings as he listened to Robert's footsteps disappear towards the back of the room. Beside the makeshift barricade, there were three doors, presumably leading to small offices or storage closets. The rest of the room, besides the sparse potted plant decoration and set of four water coolers, were cubicles. There was nowhere for anyone to hide in the cubicles, and so with that thought in mind, he turned to the first door.

He reached for the knob, but recoiled as he saw it glimmer red underneath the beam of his flashlight. _'Man up, you pussy. It's just a little blood. Just plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets…open the damn door and get it over with.' _ Gathering his courage, he thrust his hand toward the door, a shiver rolling down his spine as he jerked the knob and threw it open. Light from the flashlight spilled inside, but the room appeared to be blissfully empty. A hand landed on his shoulder, causing him to start, snapping around and raising his rifle. He was met by a grim Rei. "What're we looking for?"

"Robert said to check for memos, look at the computers, see if there are any last notes. No one else came in?"

"Checking the computers is useless, power's out. I already tried earlier when I was looking for the log. Johnny and Enrique went to check the evidence room, Eddie opted to stay outside and keep an eye on the street. Unnecessary, but judging by the barricade and lack of bodies in here, it might be a good precaution. Where is Robert?"

"Evidence room? I didn't see one."

Rei lifted a hand and waved it towards the reception area, his eyes nervously beginning to stray towards the door before he forced them back onto the redhead. "The door behind the desk. Johnny noticed it when we started to come in. If nothing else, we'll hopefully find some usable ammo in there. Whatever's going on here, I think it's safe to assume there's more than a small group of hostiles in the area. Where is Robert?" Rei repeated.

"He went off to search the back, said we'd get the search done faster this way."

Rei frowned disapprovingly and folded his arms across his chest. "He knows better than to separate, especially with a rookie…no offence."

"None taken. Do you want to go back and check on him?"

"No, I'll stick with you. Robert is more than capable of taking care of himself, damned stubborn ass that he is. I'll start searching the cubicles. Holler if you find anything."

Turning back towards the darkness, Tala directed the beam of light into the small office, then took a tentative step inside. He considered searching for the light-switch, but knew that if the lights had not worked for Rei, they wouldn't work for him either. He examined the room slowly, looking for anything that might be of use. A bookcase against the far wall had lost two of the middle shelves, spilling books and papers onto the floor beside the desk. A filing cabinet stood in the corner, inconspicuous and undented. Strange that the people had used bookcases to barricade the door when the stronger, sturdier filing cabinet was so close by. He forced his gaze away, taking in the tipped over chair, the askew monitor and tangled wires surrounding the desk. But his eyes trailed back to the filing cabinet.

It could not have been too heavy, if someone had hauled the fridge from its location –probably the staff kitchenette located somewhere in the department- as compared to the closeness of the office. His head tilted, and he moved towards it, rapping one of the drawers with his knuckles. The dull thud told him there was something inside, and he wondered for a moment if it would be locked. Giving an experimental pull, he was disappointed to find that it did not move. Reaching down to the next level, he tried again, only to find the same result. But curiosity had him, and so he stood there, racking his brain, wondering where the owner might store the keys.

The first batch of answers –on a key-ring, in a pocket- left him feeling hopeless, especially when he began to wonder if the owner had even been in the office when the attack happened. Discouraged, he moved on to the desk, testing the drawers, finding some open, others locked, but all of his searching was fruitless. There was no useful information to be found anywhere. Sighing in annoyance, and wondering if one of the team might be able to pick the lock, he moved on.

The second office had no blood on the door, and Tala sighed in relief as he pushed it open and stepped inside. Almost identical to the first office, he looked around, testing the filing cabinet but finding it empty. It seemed this department was very cautious about their files, even when death waited outside the door. It was only as he was turning to leave his attention was drawn by a reflective surface in the far corner. His head tilted as he hurried over, dropping to his heels. A laptop? He wondered if there would be any juice left, and decided that even if there wasn't, it might prove to shed some light on the situation or it's owner when they reached somewhere with a power source.

As he stepped outside once more, turning to the third door, a wave of fear washed over him, for the golden rays that had seeped through were now turning crimson, signalling the fall of the sun, and he wondered what would happen when the town fell into total darkness. It wouldn't take long to find out.

-

Robert had seen many gruesome scenes throughout his career, suicide-bombings, hostage situations gone wrong, ritualistic sacrifices in occultist headquarters…but he had never been prepared for the sight he met as he searched the holding tank. The first thing he identified was that the smell of decay was stronger here. Cautiously, he peered around the frame of the door, holding his breath as he listened. There was low, wet snarling coming from somewhere beyond the light of the door, and he pondered for a moment whether to summon Tala or to investigate by himself. A loud cracking sound made the decision for him, and he crept silently into the hallway.

The windows in the cells had not been boarded over, and the sun painted red streaks and shadowed bars over the stone walls. Glancing down, he could see more blood on the floor, but not nearly as much as the outer rooms. He could see shapes imprinted on the floor, but quickly raised his eyes as the sounds grew louder and louder. Raising his rifle, he paused for a moment at a bend in the corridor. He could tell there were no more windows, and he would have to make due with what little illumination had reached this shadowed nook. Closing his eyes and counting to three, he snapped around the corner, unprepared for the sight that met his stunned gaze.

On the floor was a woman, face down on the ground. Her aqua eyes stared glassily up at him through strands of auburn hair, blood trickling from what remained of her mouth. The nose, lips, cheeks and ears were gone, and all that remained was a bloody mockery of what might have once been beauty. Around her spilled a green summer-dress, the bodice shredded at one side as blood seeped into the fabric. Beneath one of her outstretched arms was a blood-stained teddy bear, and Robert mentally winced at the possibility a child might have viewed this scene. One of her shoes sat discarded to the side, a last weapon against the animal that now lay beside her, its bloodied-muzzle buried in the soft flesh of her side. From his vantage point, Robert could see that already much of the flesh had been stripped from her torso, as well as several ribs and probably an internal organ or two.

He took a cautious step forward, wondering when the dog had killed the woman, when the creature began to growl. He saw the fur rise up at the back of its neck, and it raised itself slightly, upper-body close to the ground, snarling and baring its teeth. Robert hesitated, and that was the signal the animal needed, lunging forward so quickly that he barely had time to brace himself, his rifle rising to press against the beasts throat, jerking his own head back as he felt himself falling against the wall. It snapped its jaws and fought against the pressure at its throat, and Robert was sure he could see wildness in its eyes that no police-dog should ever have. It began to bark, a wretched dry rasp of a bark as it struggled to maintain its balance on only its hind legs.

Sensing an opening, Robert pushed with all his strength, forcing the creature backwards. Bringing up his rifle, his finger curling around the trigger, he watched as a small explosion of red erupted from the dog's side, and it yelped pitifully as it dropped to the floor. Still pressed against the wall, struggling for breath and trying to regain his composure, the indigo-haired commander turned to find Rei standing at the bottom of the hall, gun sighted on his position. "You okay?" The Neko-jin called.

He had to swallow several times before he could attempt a firm "Yes" and push himself away from the wall. He stared down at the dog, at its paws kicking helplessly at the ground, and fired a shot at its head. To Robert's surprise, the skull remained intact, and the dog fell still with one last, weak whimper. Turning back to Rei, striding hurriedly down the hallway, he nudged him out the door, closing it firmly behind himself. "Find something heavy and seal this door. There might be more."

"What the hell was wrong with it?"

"I have no idea. Probably starved itself rabid, but we can't be sure unless we know where everyone else is. From this," he inclined his head back towards the hallway, "I suspect the people of this town didn't just pick up and move on."

"The blood didn't clue you into that before?"

"I doubt even 100 dogs as vicious as that one could take out all the people in town Rei. Something else happened." Robert shifted his eyes to Tala, who had appeared silently sometime during their discussion and had been quietly listening. "Did you find anything?"

Rei moved away and towards the front room, knowing he would not be able to properly barricade the door without some help. Tala shook his head at his superior, then reconsidered. "I found a laptop and a locked filing cabinet, but I couldn't find any keys. Since there are no bodies to search and probably no power in the laptop, it doesn't account to much."

"If Gamma Team is fine, their radio-man might be able to figure something out with the laptop. As for the filing cabinet, I do believe Johnny has a magical way with locks. Go take him to the room and see if he can open it, Rei, Enrique and myself will set about barricading this door closed."

Nodding, Tala retrieved Johnny and led him into the first office, giving him Robert's orders as the older redhead inspected it carefully. "Think you can open it?" He asked after a moment.

"Sure." He indicated for Tala to take a step backwards as he removed a knife from its sheath on his belt. He gave the drawer one last experimental pull, then lined up the knife tip to the lock. Taking a small step backwards himself, he gripped the handle and slammed the flat of his free hand against the hilt. He did this two or three times, gave another testing jiggle of the knife, and finding it almost immovable, he cranked it hard. The sound of the lock grinding against metal and a satisfyingly quiet click alerted them that it was no longer locked. Johnny turned to Tala and sent him a smug smirk. "See, since this is a cop-shop, I guess it doesn't matter if they have filing cabinets with a cheap-ass lock. Who's going to be stupid enough to break in here in the first place?"

Tala rolled his eyes and gave silent applause, unable to help smirking at his peer's arrogance. "Well, since you unlocked it, would you care to do the honours?"

"Fuck no, my work here is done. That'll be $40."

Rolling his eyes skyward once more, Tala nudged past him toward the cabinet, gripping the handle and yanking it forward almost enough to pull the drawer out. The first thing he noticed was that while the drawer was opened, Johnny had not exactly **picked** the lock. Indeed the entire lock had been rotated around by the pressure of his shove. The second thing he noticed was the head full of soft china-blue hair. "Holy shit…"

"What the…is that…is that a kid?" Johnny watched with bemusement and slight disgust as the slender redhead by his side reached into the drawer and began carefully trying to extract the small child from the tight confines. When he had her securely within his grasp, he lowered himself to the floor, cradling the frail body in his arms. "Who the hell locks a kid inside a filing cabinet?"

"I don't know, but you better go get Rei…she looks sick." Even as Johnny rushed quickly from the room, yelling for Rei to move his ass pronto, Tala knew the child's odds of survival were slim, if not non-existent. Her skin was the color of bleached paper, and looked equally as fragile. Her small body shook violently, and he placed the back of his palm on her forehead. She had a fever, how high only Rei would know. He gave her a gentle shove, and it took a few moments for her eyes to flicker open. He inhaled sharply. The eyes staring up at him were not the eyes of a child, not even a sick one. All of the color seemed to be washed out of them, leaving nothing behind but the black pupil surrounded by a ring of ivory. "What's your name?" He forced himself to ask.

"…M-Missy." She could barely speak, and sounding more like a wheezing old woman.

"Hi Missy my name is Tala. How old are you?"

"Suh-suh-even."

Rei entered the room, Robert, Johnny and Enrique standing a discreet distance behind, staring down at the girl. Rei himself took one look at the child, shook his head, and crouched down beside Tala, removing his backpack and opening it hurriedly. "What's wrong with her?" He asked, arranging the things he would need to give her a quick check-over.

"She has a fever, but beyond that I have no idea." He turned back her, and forced a small smile. "Where are your parents Missy?"

"Dunno. When they came, mommy hid me in there; she said I'd be okay if I kept quiet…"

Robert winced, and sent a glance over his shoulder towards the now closed-off room. "Rei?"

The male in question did not look up, continuing his exam as quickly as he could. He prompted her to open her mouth, and was disconcerted to notice she had a hard time doing so. "Does your mouth hurt? Nod yes or no." He asked, placing a thermometer inside. She nodded. He took her arm and began checking her blood pressure, and became even more worried when he noticed how high it was. He looked to Tala. "Hold her still, I'm going to need to give her a shot, and take some blood. I've never seen anything like this in a child before. If I didn't know any better I'd say she was a 40 year old smoker with high cholesterol who was about to have a heart-attack."

"You think it's a disease?" Enrique broached tentatively.

"I won't know until I can examine the sample." Rei answered vaguely, pulling out the thermometer and checking her temperature. 115 degrees Fahrenheit. He blinked, shook it, and looked again. Still 115. _'That can't be right…'_ "Missy, my name is Rei…do you feel hot or cold?"

"C-Cold…very cold…c-can I have a blanket?"

No one had a blanket, but Robert was quick to remove his jacket and hand it to Tala, who awkwardly tried to hold the child and wrap it around her at the same time. What made it more difficult was that she seemed so weak she couldn't even support herself, and was reverted to nothing more than a dead weight in his arms. Rei removed a hypodermic from his pack and a small glass bottle, and Tala tilted the little girls face away so she would not be forced to watch him prepare the injection. "Missy…who came?"

"Don't k-know. Didn't see." She let out a weak cry of pain as the needle punched into her arm, and the Neko-jin gave a wince of sympathy for her as he eased back the plunger, watching the white liquid swirl with crimson, before carefully pushing it back down, watching it disappear into her system.

Robert tapped Rei's shoulder, and in turn the ebony-haired male shrugged it off, placing her arm back inside the jacket and taking the other, using the same needle to extract a blood sample. Weakly he smiled at the girl, "You're a brave girl Missy. We're going to take you out of here, but maybe you should try to nap." He stood up and left the room, Robert following closely behind.

Tala could hear them talking in the hallway, and felt the child settle in his arms. They all heard Rei's estimation, but none of them, not even Johnny, wanted to believe that she would be dead within the hour. With a fever of 115 and blood-pressure of 147 over 94, he was surprised she was even breathing. _"I don't want her to die Robert, but I don't think there's any more I can do other than euthanize her. The antibiotics I gave her are nothing more than a placebo with readings like those…I'm sorry."_

"_So what should we do?"_

"…_I honestly don't know. Make her comfortable and stay with her until..."_

That was when the screaming began.


	4. Chapter 3: The Unknown

Catharsis Of Yearning Chapter 3 – The Unknown

Authors Note: Until I can retrieve my lost notes, most of my other fics will remain on hiatus, with the exception of: Immortal, Use Me, Forgive Me, Never An Absolution and (maybe) It's A Shame. Thanks for your patience, enjoy the chap.

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." – H.P Lovecraft

-

Eddie had always considered himself to be a cool, rational individual, able to adjust to whatever situation he was thrown into and keep his head. That was why, when he first saw the glimmering between the darkening trees, he ignored it. He tried to think of all the things that could possibly reflect the setting sun, and as the list grew shorter and shorter, he cautiously began to approach. He kept his weapon pointed downwards, not wanting to scare any civilian who may have escaped into the relative safety of the shadowed forest. "Anyone out there?" He called lowly, unsure why a feeling of dread suddenly began to roll in his stomach and seep beneath his tough exterior, staining his insides and making him afraid. A frown twisted his lips downwards as he mentally berated his stupidity and he repeated himself, more loudly, "Is there anyone out there?"

Even without a reply, he allowed himself to be swallowed between the giant trees, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of life as he progressed onwards, hoping that someone would finally be able to shine a light on what had happened. He hesitated when the trees began to thicken, blocking out the lowering sun which glowed like fire behind him. Nervously he shifted his weight from foot to foot, contemplating returning quickly to the P.D and calling the rest of the team to join him on his expedition, when he heard a soft sigh filter through the whispering leaves. Now he was certain there was someone in the woods, and though his gut called to him and told him to return to his squad, to fetch them before searching, his head cautioned that whoever it was might be injured, disorientated…might get lost and never be found. Sucking in one last breath, he pushed through the thorny bushes, tilting his body from left to right, passing between the trees as silent as a ghost.

He thumbed on the small flashlight fastened to the underside of his rifle, sweeping it around the area, hoping to catch the glimmer once more as he struggled through the tightly enclosed area. The silence that had stalked him through the town had become lost amidst the trees, and Eddie couldn't help but wonder why the only noises he could hear were the soft brushings of leaf against leaf, the occasional twig snapping under some unknown weight, and the mollifying sighs that urged him onward. Shouldn't there be birds, crickets, insects, anything to add to the unnatural soundtrack?

He snapped around, gun raised and finger poised on the trigger as his eyes landed on nothing but more foliage. Shaking his head and sighing, dismissing the feeling that someone was watching him, he turned back, freezing as he saw a pale figure disappear further into the woods just to his right. "Stop!" He called, rushing forward, and before he could realise what had happened he was falling into a clearing, landing hard on his elbows and wincing at the pain that flared in his ankle. He looked behind him, mentally cursing the snarled root that had snagged his foot, pushing himself up and turning back towards the figure before him. The first thing he noticed about the girl -for though the long crimson hair was scraggly and the hour-glass figure slicked with blood, it was unmistakably a woman- was that she was entirely naked.

"Ma'am?" He moved closer to her, lowering his gun as he fumbled to remove his jacket, propriety urging him to cover her up before taking her back. "Ma'am? Are you alright? My name is Eddie Shaw, I've been sent here to find out what's going on…" On and on he rambled, not even sure what he was saying, drawing closer to her, but she didn't turn back to him. She just kept moving forward, more of a stumble than a walk, sighing her soft sighs. Noticing that she was still not responding, he forced himself to move faster, biting back a hiss at the increasing pain in his ankle. Finally she stopped, her head tilting back, and something in his mind associated the move with that of an animal scenting blood. She inhaled a long, hissing breath through her nose, and as he stopped behind her, a wave of sickness clutched his stomach as the stench of rancid flesh flooded his senses. He touched the jacket to her shoulders, too confused to read the signs, his brain running on auto. "We have a medic back in town, come with me and we'll…get…this…"

He trailed off as his mouth dried out and he took an instinctive step backwards, his hand dropping lifelessly to his side mere inches from the rifle, but using it was the last thing on his mind. A pair of identical angry red slashes extended from the corners of her torn mouth, but this did nothing to detract from the ferocious needle-like teeth that glittered like newly-shone pearls and protruded out from below her upper-lip, each of the four long fangs flanked by three smaller but equally delicate looking points. Eddie flashed back to his childhood, and a picture of an Anglerfish from a book he had once seen in a dentist's office. He remembered sitting in his seat, shivering with fear as his mother warned him that if he did not brush twice a day, his own teeth would resemble the monstrous jaws of the carnivorous predator.

The ruined mouth opened in a hissing growl, and he saw that the bottom row had only the smaller teeth, much more tightly compacted but just as effective as their counterparts. His eyes, scared to know but **needing** to see, took in the rest of her appearance. Now that she was facing him, he could see the mottled black taint her torso had become, fading into a pale grey at her ribcage, and bleaching into smooth flawless ivory as it disappeared towards her back. From behind, she had looked like a normal being, but now…her hands rose, seemingly in slow motion before his dazed eyes, and he could see where the skin of her fingertips had frayed as bone had pushed past the weak barrier and morphed into lethal looking claws.

The sight of her had thrown his logical mind back into the void, and he found himself continuing to stammer out platitudes and warnings for her to stay back, even as she launched herself at him with a deafening shriek, knocking him back to the ground. He felt his mouth open in terror as he felt a burning sensation zip across his cheek, and he was unsure as to whether he was screaming or not as her other hand came whizzing down through the air. Instinct kicked in and took over, and he brought back his fist, slamming it hard against what should have been a cheek but felt more like a side of frozen beef, feeling his fist connect with sickening strength, sending her head jerking to the side. He drew back for another, deathly ashen eyes locking on deep brown as her head snapped back to face him, and the fist froze mid-air as she lunged forward. He screamed as those needle-like teeth broke through the skin of his arm, and another of those burning pains raced down his chest as her claws made contact once more. Finally breaking free of his trance, he grasped desperately for his gun.

He could only imagine what would have happened to his neck had she hit her target -for those teeth were designed to latch onto their prey and immobilize them, clearly so she could slash away at her victim without resistance- and instead he now felt her yanking at the flesh of his forearm as he grasped the weapon trapped awkwardly between them. He forced the barrel up into her stomach, and disregarding his training, unloaded a full clip into her torso, forcing her back with a screech of agony, and a silver-dollar sized chunk of flesh from his forearm. Blankly he squeezed the trigger once more, stunned more by the fact that she still sat atop his waist than the empty click he received from his gun. Blood dripped from her mouth and down her chin, a wild snarl rumbling from within her bullet-riddled torso. Gripping the barrel with his free-hand, he brought the butt around, slamming it solidly into the side of her head, knocking her aside.

Shakily forcing himself to his feet he backed away, feeling blood ooze down his arm as he reached for a new clip from his belt. He felt it coat his fingers as he tore the magazine away, the fingers of his other hand fumbling to eject the spent clip while at the same time shoving the new one in. He didn't feel pain from the bite, too horrified to feel the pain inflicted upon him by the creature that rose up before him, emotionless eyes crazed with blood-lust.

A third eye appeared between the other two, and for an instant it seemed as though she would continue to come after him, then her body collapsed slowly to the ground with a little tremor. He felt a hand on his shoulder, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from the corpse on the ground, even as he felt someone grab his arm and begin to inspect it. "It's not too bad, but she definitely got a good chunk. Eddie, are you alright? Eddie? **Eddie?**"

"Keep away from her!" Eddie yelled frantically as he saw Johnny approach the corpse, drawing everyone's attention to him. "She's fucking crazy!"

"Crazy she may have been Eddie, but she is also dead." Robert muttered lowly, his eyes travelling between the naked body and the bleeding male by his side. He did not want to jump to conclusions, and he believed he knew Eddie well enough to know the strength of his values, but he still couldn't help but ask, "Why is she naked?"

"Don't ask me man, I have no fucking idea! I saw something in here, and came to find out. I see her walking around in here, and I go to give her my jacket and bring her back, bitch freaks out and attacks me!"

"And it took an entire clip to subdue her?" The elder male retorted dubiously, nodding to Rei to begin tending to the vicious wound. Instead of continuing to meet the frustrated eyes staring at him unbelievingly, he watched as the Neko-jin removed a small glass bottle from his pack, paying painfully close attention as he unscrewed the cap and prodded at the ragged hole in the otherwise undamaged forearm. Tipping the clear liquid directly into the injury, he frowned as thousands of tiny white bubbles erupted from where it had made contact.

"Eddie, how long ago did she bite you?" Rei asked, tearing his eyes away to meet Eddie's curious gaze.

"You heard me hollering. That was when she bit me."

"But that was only a few minutes ago…and your wound is infected pretty badly. Did she look sick to you?"

"Did she look sick?" He snorted with laughter, shaking his head and wondering if somewhere along his journey into the woods, he had stumbled into insanity. "Well Rei, I've never seen anyone with white eyes before, so yes, I'd say those made her look sick. Plus the mouth and those teeth, oh and the fact that she tried to tear my throat out and still came at me even after I unloaded a full clip into her gut. Didn't even slow her down, as a matter of fact. Then I slammed my gun into the side of her fucking head and she fell off. Does she sound sick to you Rei?"

"Sounds like she's high on PCP to me. Keeps her flying so goddamn high she wouldn't have felt a thing." Johnny muttered over his shoulder, giving the girl a demonstrative kick with his booted foot. Not even a twitch. He crouched and grabbed one of her wrists, drawing it away from her body as he felt for a pulse. The skin was cold, and he could see no signs of drug-usage, but that proved nothing as far as the Scot was concerned. Junkies were very clever when it came to consuming narcotics. He noticed the many mutations that had taken place, but said nothing of them, knowing Rei would be better fit to make a diagnosis of what had happened to her. "Whatever the hell was wrong with her isn't wrong now. She's deader than shit."

Tala stayed back, eyeing their surroundings, unable to forget the small girl waiting back in town. Maybe dead by now, but none of them had thought to carry her out to the woods with them. None but him, and he had dared not raise the suggestion to their Lieutenant when the screams had started and everyone had bolted from the room, searching for Eddie. It had been a lucky chance they had been able to find him, for if not for the other males terrified screams, they might never have found him in the small clearing. They had all seen the woman, and Tala could not help but compare her to Missy, lying weak and frightened on the bloody floor of the police headquarters. The pale eyes were the only thing they shared in common, but they alone brought the worry that there might be a disease…and now Eddie might have it. Swallowing back his worry, he called to Robert, "We need to get the girl."

"…there is no hope for her Tala, within the hour we'd be carrying nothing but a corpse. We can't afford to be weighed down."

"I can't afford a little girl dying alone on my conscience Robert." Tala rebutted, shaking his head as he turned away. "I'll carry her myself the whole damn way, but I can't just leave her there. Besides, what if she gets attacked?"

"Attacked by **what**, exactly? We have no idea what we are facing here, or where they are, or how many there are. For all we know they could be miles away."

"I agree with Tala." Enrique spoke up softly.

"I don't care what you agree with Enrique, this is my decision. I won't have half the team running back to town to fetch a dying girl. I'm sorry, but I cannot and will not let her jeopardize the safety of the squad or the mission. Tala! Get back here!" The redhead did not stop, breaking into a run as he disappeared into the thick foliage, and Robert growled and shook his head as Enrique made a move to follow. "Don't you dare Giancarlo. I godamnwell can't afford to have two of you missing."

"What are we going to do sir?"

"We'll wait until Rei has finished treating Eddie before we do anything. But when this is over, Tala will be wishing he'd stayed at base and cleaned latrines with his tongue for a year."

-

Fear was perhaps one of the most deadly adversaries of a man in peril. It all traced back to the time when man was a curious cross-breed between primate and homo-sapient, and they feared the night above all else because of the unknown predators that lurked in the darkness. The fact that his men knew what stalked them did not dissuade their fear, and Kai wondered if H.P Lovecraft had ever considered the plausibility of a zombie apocalypse before the cancer that had wrecked havoc upon his intestines had defeated him. He highly doubted it.

Allowing his eyes to trail around the room of men attempting –and failing- to sleep, he frowned his disapproval. Sleep deprivation would do nothing but weaken their characters further, and then he'd have to deal with more and more little spats and scuffles beginning over nothing and ending with nothing but bruised egos and hard feelings. Sleep deprivation and fear did not bode well for his ability to effectively control them either, and he knew Martinez was just waiting for his next opportunity to attempt another mutiny. "Sleep, or you'll be dead by the time your shift comes around…and just because we're not on base doesn't mean you're going to get to sleep in. It's business as usual guys."

Even though one or two continued to feign slumber, and most of the others didn't bother to respond, Miguel Martinez sat up, meeting the bluenette's blazing eyes with a grim stare. Aforementioned bluenette shifted himself into a more comfortable position, preparing for the conflict he knew was to come. "Business as usual would imply we were all here Hiwatari. Brooklyn, Raul…they're gone. How do we know who'll be next?"

"_When I lived, I provided for every thing but death; now I must die, and am unprepared_. Caesar Borgia."

"Don't give me that history shit, spouting off quotes about death doesn't negate the fact that we are all probably going to die here, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it because **you** won't let us go home and leave this shit for someone else to deal with!" He met his commander's gaze with a confident glare, and his hands balled into fists under the blankets. "Every single one of us feels the exact same way Kai, **we want to go home**! Why are you making us do this?"

"…you want to go home, Miguel? Fine. Go home. But in one week, maybe two…home might not be so far away anymore. Home might not be so safe anymore. Whatever the hell those things are, they are spreading. You saw what they did in town, and you can see what they're doing outside right now, Darwinism to its purest form – survival of the fittest. As soon as they realize that the food source here is gone, basic instinct is going to kick in and they will seek greener pastures. In simple terms, Martinez, this might spread if we stay here and fight it, but if we go home, it **will** spread. Then your family, your friends, your girlfriend, that fat chick who keeps ogling you at the mall and that store clerk who thinks you're too stupid to realize he's short-changing you every time you drop in, they'll all be like those things out there. Still wanna go home and hide from reality? Do **any** of you?"

A tired yawn was the first answer he received. Then, an almost incoherent mutter drifted from one of the several corners of the room. "He ain't speaking for me; if he was he would've mentioned that we should've hit the liquor store before we shacked up in this place." Crimson hair unruly, blue eyes awash with sleep, Michael sat up and shook his head as if dismissing his weariness. "Anyway, whose shift is it?"

"Ian and Kenny are out in the hall keeping an eye on things. You still got a half hour, use it wisely and go back to sleep, you damned stupid American."

"You let Shorty and Super-Wiz keep watch? Together? What're they gonna do if something actually happens?" He paused for a moment, rising to his feet as he side-stepped a scowling Miguel, who had since folded his arms across his chest, his eyes revolving between the tired American and glaring Russian. "Ian'd probably blow up the entire mansion if he saw a butterfly, jittery little shit, but Kenny? He gonna talk 'em to death?"

"They both have weapons, and they both know how to use them. And I'm sure that without caffeine, Ian will find himself a lot less twitchy and trigger-happy."

"I still think it's a mistake, but what can you do? I wish we had some decent food man, I'm starving."

"Michael, you know we need…"

"Yeh, yeh, I know. 'Supplies must be rationed'. But still, logic doesn't stop my mind from taunting me with the reminders of a burger and a cool pitcher. Hell, I missed World Series for this, Yankees and the Red Sox. I had money riding on that game."

Kai sighed through a smirk. Same old Michael, would never change. Still, he was thankful for the redhead's ability to piss all over Miguel and his mutinous attempts to flee with such flippancy. "It'll still be there when we get back…and if you don't happen to return, I'll be glad to collect your winnings for you."

As Michael opened his mouth to reply, the sounds of an explosion leaked in through the doorway and then moments later sporadic gunfire followed. If any of the men had managed to remain asleep through the explosion, Kenny's terrified figure throwing open the door and casting a long shadow into the room had changed that for them all. Panting for breath, watching the members of Gamma Team scurrying to prepare themselves, he stated the obvious. "They're coming!"


	5. Chapter 4: Survival

Catharsis Of Yearning Chapter 4

* * *

The night was moving in quickly, staining the small township of Midwich in thick shadow as Tala returned. In its current state, he could almost pretend the inhabitants might still be in there homes, eating dinner, tucking their children into bed…he shivered and shifted the weight of the gun on his shoulder, picking up the pace as he headed towards the police department where they had left Missy. But as he thought of the young girl, Eddie was brought to his mind, and he shivered once more.

Maybe he should have listened to Robert and stayed with the team, the odds were that Missy was gone by now anyway, if Rei's diagnoses was to be believed. And the last thing he wanted or needed to see was a dead child…but some morbid sense of duty pushed and shoved him, refusing to allow him to let her die alone, scared and shaking, in a blood-stained police department. Eddie had also been afraid, and wounded, but at least he was not alone.

For a moment he did nothing but stand in the looming shadow of the department, staring into it's open doorway, thinking once again that maybe he should have listened to Robert, and he suddenly realized he did not want to re-enter that place. _'Well, isn't this a nice dilemma Tala. You separate yourself from the team to go see this kid, and now you don't want to go in there and fetch her. Idiot.'_ He hated it when he was right. Taking a deep breath and readying his weapon, he walked inside.

The smell seemed even stronger than before, thicker, staler. "Missy?" He called lowly as he carefully passed the barricade, kicking away the remains of the chair he had tripped over earlier, and he stepped towards the door where he had left the girl. "Missy? It's Tala…" He gazed around the room, frowning in confusion and worry when he could not locate the girl anywhere. She had barely had the strength to lift her head, let alone crawl away somewhere to die like an animal…so where was she?

He felt the hair at the back of his neck prickle and for some reason; he knew something was watching him. It made his throat squeeze closed and his breath stop, even as his heart started to hammer hard and fast in his chest. He thumbed the safety off his rifle, beginning a slow count of five in his head, trying to dismiss his fear as the silence around him broke with the sound of a low thump. He wanted to turn, but his body was frozen rigidly in place, stubbornly refusing to face whatever was behind him.

He thought of Missy as he heard another thump, laying helpless on the floor of the office, Robert's jacket wrapped tight around her as she shivered and moaned, dying slowly from a disease Rei had never seen or heard of. He thought of her weakness, her inability to defend herself, her fear as something dragged her off into the shadows, stealing from her any last moments of peace as she died. It was this last thought that made him turn and proceed towards the darkness at the back of the room, stopping before the newly barricaded door.

A frown twisted his lips downwards as he saw the door rattle slightly, and his finger subconsciously curled tighter around the trigger as he swallowed. If he stared hard enough, he could see the slight trembles that shook at the haphazardly arranged chairs, used to block the door earlier by Rei and Johnny. Now, standing alone and listening to the deep thudding of the door and his heart, Tala began to wonder at how strong the barricade really was, and how long it would hold out. He wondered if that was how the people of the town had felt as they had stood behind their last line of defense, waiting and wondering what would happen to them.

"_Tala, do you copy?"_ The sudden static-filled hiss made him jump, and for a moment he thought his heart might have stopped. He could feel a cold clammy sweat beginning to coat his face, his neck, his back, and with trembling fingers he reached up to the small walkey-talky at his shoulder. His fingers slipped on the button once, twice, before he could finally press it, and for a moment, the noises behind the door stopped. _"Tala, do you read me?"_

"Tala here."

"_Report. Where are you?"_

"I'm in the P.D…the kid's gone...but…there's something in here…" He realized he hadn't taken his eyes off the door, had barely even found the courage to blink for fear that whatever was behind it might get out in that single split second, even though everything had been silent for several moments. A drop of sweat rolled down his brow and into his eye, and he squeezed it close in a wince as the salty liquid stung the sensitive nerves.

"_Can you identify the target?" _He could hear the concern in Robert's voice, bringing out the faint German accent and carrying it across the line. The sound did not soothe him, quite the contrary, it made him even more nervous, because **Robert** was nervous. Robert never got nervous, never got scared. Robert was always calm and in control and knew how to deal with any situation…except this one.

The door jerked once more, and Tala heard the cracking fracture of wood, and he realized his time might be running out. His voice came out low and shaky, "No sir, it's behind a door…but I don't think it'll take long for it to get out."

"_Get out of there, now! Run North into the forest, towards the crash site. We'll move east, either encountering you on the way or at the helicopter. Now move out!"_

Tala began back-stepping away from the door, the pounding on the other side coming faster now, as though whatever was behind it knew he was there, alone, and it wanted him. But what had happened to Missy? Where had she gone? It didn't seem to matter now, because he heard the weak creaking protests of the chairs, and knew his time was almost up. He turned to the window, raising the butt of his rifle and slamming it against the boards, surprised at the ease at which the thin wood snapped. It was a good thing their attackers had not known this fact, otherwise…no, it had not mattered, they had been doomed from the moment they secured themselves inside.

He heard a loud clatter behind him, and from behind the door there was a victorious howl as the door began to inch open, forcing back the broken chair and its supporting brethren. Tala froze, gaze fixated at the ever widening breach, and he suddenly realized how dark it had become by the shimmering moonlight filtering through. Now he could hear snarling, and he could see a large snout trying to jam through the gap, coated in blood that looked almost black in the moonlight.

And then another appeared, pearly white fangs glistening with thick drool as the sensitive nose sniffed hungrily at the air. The struggle for freedom resumed with renewed ferocity, and in an instant Tala found himself moving once more, hopping onto the narrow ledge and pushing himself through the window. He felt the earth fall from under him, but his eyes were focused on the monstrosities that had finally freed themselves from behind the barricade. They looked like wolves, but they were not. They had the same height, the same characteristics, but these seemed more feral, and their ruined bodies showed no signs of weakness.

Tala was afraid, and as soon as his back hit the ground he jumped up on his feet, just in time to see the three hulking beasts stare back at him, their eyes flashing wildly. There was no warning given when one suddenly sprung forward, crossing the room in three great strides before throwing itself through the air and towards the window where he now stood. He brought his rifle forward in a wide swinging arc, and he heard a loud thwap as the muzzle of the gun struck the creature in the temple. It slammed against the side of the window, causing several of the remaining jagged shards of glass to imbed themselves in its body before it fell to the floor with a weak yelp.

For a moment his eyes stared between his rifle, the bloodied stumps of glass that remained and the room where the other wolves were cautiously advancing. Feral they may have been, but apparently not so stupid. He forced himself to back away, slowly at first, then gaining speed when he heard a serious of pained whimpers emanating from inside the department. It was when the noises stopped he ran, not noticing the hulking form of the wild animal throwing its massive paws atop the ledge before propelling itself outwards, it's counterpart following suit before they began to give chase.

* * *

They heard a screeching wail and then Ian scream out a foul curse as they reached the doorway, and Kai turned to find the short soldier on his back, his arms flailing wildly as he warded off blows from the attacker atop him. It continued to shriek in rage as its clawed hands flew back before slashing downwards, deflected again and again by the frantic thrashing of the man underneath it, but the resistance did not seem to deter the creature in the slightest…it seemed only to make it more determined, attacking faster and harder.

He took a step towards the vertically challenged male, and he heard a grunt of pain as Michael's broad frame crashed into him and sent them both sprawling to the floor. Automatically the winded redhead rolled off to the side as Kai flipped over, only to see Miguel face a similar fate as his body was thrown over the railing by a single blow from the hulking form rushing towards Tyson, systematically incapacitating the team one by one. "OPEN FIRE!" Kai yelled, backed by the frantic curses from Ian. It was in this moment he realized the only man left standing was Kenny, and watched as the trembling tech raised his rifle and let off a few shaking bursts. The bullets sailed wide of their mark, but it served in causing the massive form to turn. "Get up!" He hissed at Michael as he pushed himself to his feet before charging the towering cadaver.

He felt his right shoulder connect with pure muscle, and was momentarily stunned when the creature remained unmoved, and then someone crashed against his back and everyone fell to the floor in a great heap of flailing limbs. Kai was vaguely aware of boots dashing past his field of vision, and he could hear Ian demanding that someone get the demented monkey off his back as the thing below them attempted to throw them aside. He could hear the redhead beside him grunting in effort as he landed blow after blow to the creature's kidneys, not even slowing it as it bucked and roared in rage beneath them.

Miguel began to scream then, his voice high and scared. "They're below us!" His fingers were beginning to throb at the insistent pull of his weight, and he tensed his arms in an attempt to haul himself up, his eyes refusing to leave the ground floor, where a small gathering of zombies had grouped together, arms raised high as they tried to grab at his booted feet. He was several feet above their outstretched hands, but should they smarten-up and form a kind of ladder, he'd be done for. His strength failed him, his body jerking down and almost causing him to lose his hold on the rough wooden banisters. "Any time Hiwatari!"

Kai ignored Miguel as he examined the surroundings. He could see another beast charging towards the staircase, equally as bulky as the first, its large muscles rippling with each great stride it took as it advanced towards them. "Tyson, shoot the other one!" He ordered, watching as Ian hurried to the front of the beast on the ground. He saw the shorter man grab something from his belt and force it into the beast's mouth, and he jumped back, pulling Michael with him. The monster was on its feet immediately, but before it could advance further Kai kicked it, toppling backwards and over the railing, almost taking Miguel down to the floor with it, where it landed upon several of the creatures below.

Then there was an explosion of blood and limbs, chips of the marble flooring acting like shrapnel as they flew towards all sides of the room, embedding themselves in the walls and sparse furniture. If anything had survived the blast, it would not pose an immediate threat, and so Kai directed Michael and Ian to begin shooting at the remaining zombie, whilst Kenny helped Miguel back over the railing. For the longest time, it seemed as though they would be fighting the same scenario once more as the hulking creature drew closer and closer, slowed only a little by the hale of bullets ripping at its flesh, before it dropped at the head of the stairs, thick black blood oozing from its wounds.

Shaking his head, he turned to the redhead by his side. "Michael, you and Miguel take up watch. Tyson, take care of Ian, those are some pretty nasty cuts. Kenny, you get back to trying to fix that damn radio." His eyes followed the violet-haired midget into the room, acknowledging his protests of the wounds looking worse than they were, but shaking his head to the request of returning to keep watch. It didn't look like they'd be sleeping any time soon, Kai mused. That attack had almost defeated them, and it surely hadn't improved morale.

He checked his watch. If the back-up didn't make it within the next six hours, they'd have to make a run for it, back into the overrun woods, where all manners of nightmares and grotesqueries awaited. He wasn't sure that if it came to that, they'd all make it.

* * *

He ran.

He ran as fast as he could through the underbrush, a strange tightening forming beneath his ribcage, and his stomach in his throat, sending urgent warnings to his brain that if he didn't stop running soon, he would throw up. But he couldn't stop, straining his ears above the sound of his heart thundering and his heavy gasps for breath as branches mercilessly whipped at his face and hands as he shoved his way through. His lungs heaved and strained for more oxygen that they could not hold, and any that he did receive seemed to burn in his ribcage like a noxious gas that threatened to stop him from breathing at all.

Growls and crackling leaves and snapping twigs and unintelligible groans seemed to echo all around him, and he dared not look around, for he knew he would see creatures in the shadows between the trees, a hundred pairs of glowing eyes drained of life all focused on him. He didn't know how long he'd been running, only that he hoped he was heading north as Robert had directed. The darkness had made reading his compass while running neigh impossible, and the trees too seemed to conspire against him, shielding him from the ethereal glow of the stars.

The ground was beginning to morph beneath his feet, sinking underneath his weight while at the same time robbing him of the resistance needed for him to keep his fast pace. He felt himself falling forward as his booted foot glanced across a large slick rock, and his weightless body was spinning around, and for a moment he caught a glimpse of the bushes parting as his pursuers burst through the foliage, ready to tear him to shreds with their long, dripping fangs.

He was ripped from his thoughts as his body was engulfed by an icy chill and he was dragged downwards by the current of the river, and instinctively he began to kick and thrash, trying to force himself above the rushing water. Normally, this would not have been a problem for Tala, having run through this scenario many times in basic training, but now, his gun was not secure in his grip, and losing his weapon would be a worse fate than to drown in the freezing water. His clothes were soaked through, and the Kevlar embedded in his vest tried to keep him under.

Already tired from the run, he entertained the idea of simply surrendering to the river and allowing himself some rest, but that notion was dismissed as soon as he realized he thought it. He had no reason not to fight, no secret loathing of himself or dissatisfaction with where his life was heading. Kicking with renewed vigor, he forced his eyes open and secured the strap of his rifle around his wrist. For a moment, he felt the pressure around him ease, and he quickly swallowed in as much air as he could hold, not trusting his body to be able to keep him above the violent surge of the stream. Sure enough, it forced him back under, and this time he concentrated hard, pushing himself forward. Unsure of which way he was going he propelled himself through the raging water, knowing that sooner or later there had to be land.

His shoulder was jerked hard and a surge of bubbles erupted as he yelled in pain, his free hand forcing through the water in an attempt to find out what had halted his progress. For a fleeting moment he thought he felt fingers threading through his hair, but his rational mind screamed that it could not be true, and as the gnarled warped root brushed against his fingers, he prayed his luck would hold. He shrugged his trapped arm, trying to free himself from the root that he might hoist himself out, and after a few desperate fumblings he felt his weight lighten as his body was dragged forward once more.

He grabbed another root with his remaining hand, using it to draw himself towards the safety of the trunk, his feet kicking aimlessly at the tangle, hoping to find secure footing. His clothing, body armor and gun seemed to try pulling him back into the rapid undercurrents, and it took every ounce of strength he could muster just to hoist himself halfway onto the fallen tree. He glanced quickly over his shoulder as a howl erupted from behind him, and in the distance, he could see the mutilated mutts pawing nervously at the edge of the river, gnashing their jaws as their heads turned this way and that, scouring the opposite shoreline for sign of their pray.

With a sigh of relief, he pulled himself to the muddy shoreline, inch by inch on his elbows and knees. His armor would be filthy, he thought distractedly, but at the moment that was truly the least of his worries. He flopped onto his back and pulled in a few deep breaths of crisp forest air, not daring to close his eyes even as the dim light from the stars blurred and the treetops swirled before his vision. Laying there, his heart pounding and his body shivering, he allowed himself the relief of knowing he had survived…barely.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he was awoken by a soft crackling from nearby, his eyes rolling and hand blindly reaching for his weapon, even as he realized that it was simply his radio, and that someone was trying to contact him. He brought it to his lips, pushed down the button, and whispered, "Identify yourself."

Back in the mansion, Kenny startled and tore a bloody trail across the pad of his index finger as a fuzzy, distorted voice broke the silence in the small security room. He dropped his screwdriver and carefully grasped the talkie of the fragile machine that was now a jumble of loose wires, duct-tape and bullet holes. "This is Dizzy, radio controller of Team Gamma. Identify yourself!"

"_This…olf."_

"Our radio was damaged in a firefight, I'm afraid I didn't quite catch that, over. Repeat transmission."

"_This is Team Delta scout Wolf."_ The voice obliged. _"I have been separated from the team, but last I saw one man was injured. Have you…"_

Kenny slammed his fist on the table in frustration as once again the transmission faded into crackles and hisses, but instantly regained his composure as he realized that the slightest tap could destroy his past hours of careful repair. He did not have adequate tools to make the radio as good as new, and so he clenched his fists and once more pressed the button. "You have one man injured Wolf, but the rest was lost in static. Please repeat, over."

"_Have you encountered a medical bay in the mansion?...till there right? Over."_

"Yes we are still there, and yes there is a medbay here. With your teams support we could probably clear the path there. Do you know your location? Over."

"_No, just…of river…Delta going to crash site…directions to mansion? Over."_

"North. Just head North…and watch out."

"_Roger, on my way now…keep the doors open for me, over."_

Unable to help himself, the brunette allowed himself a small smile of hope. "Affirmative Wolf, we'll have the door open and a cup of coffee waitin' for you. Just…make sure they don't bite you. Over." He remained there a few moments, waiting for a response, before slowly placing the receiver back on its cradle and resigning himself to more work. What he failed to realize was that while he had guessed at much of what Tala had relayed rather than constantly ask the other to repeat himself, the redhead had done the same thing.

* * *

If he never saw something as ugly as this again in his life, it would be too soon. The creature lying before him must have stood at about 5'10 or 5'11, and taking a random guess he placed it to weigh between 175 to 250lbs. The thick, muscled arms and bared torso were strewn with bullet holes, and from each one a slow trickle of black blood oozed out and trailed across the beasts hulking form. Comically, its legs seemed ridiculously emaciated in comparison, and the head was roughly the size of a normal human, but grotesquely disfigured as lumps of bone and muscle bulged obscenely from the forehead and cheeks, making the things lower jaw seem almost invisible. Blank, milky irises stared up at him, and had Kai been a lesser man he might have shivered at how the beast could still look so dangerous, even in death.

"Kai, why the hell you staring that thing out?" Michael muttered lowly as he strolled from one of the darkened rooms down the hallway, slowly approaching the bluenette who turned to look at him. The crimson eyes almost seemed to stare through him for a moment, but the redhead brushed that thought away as he stopped beside his commanding officer and dropped his eyes to the mass of muscle sprawled across the top steps. "What the fuck was that?"

"I have no idea, but I hope we don't run into more of them. They came as a pair, remember?"

At that, the redhead gave a shaky laugh and glanced over his shoulder. "Told you we shouldn't trust Ian with the explosives, the jittery little asshat. Did you see him stick that nade in the things mouth like shoving an apple in a pig? It could have taken his damn arm off!"

Kai nodded but didn't glance back at the monster lying at his feet. "How is the shrimp? It looked like that thing was gonna shred him to ribbons."

"It got him pretty good Kai, and without a medic…I mean we all know the basics, but some of them were pretty deep. Might need stitches." Here Michael sighed and gave a weak kick to the hulk-like form, unsurprised when it didn't move even in the slightest. "You know how to do that?"

"Sure, but it won't be pretty, and it won't heal clean. He'll have the marks to remember it by."

"That's the least of his problems…you think that thing could have…well…I dunno…"

Kai smirked slightly and lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose as he felt the pressure begin to build behind his eyelids. He'd been having these migraines a lot recently, and had considered wearing sunglasses 24/7 to protect him from the light that seemed to set off a marching band in his brain, but he had decided against it. He hated sunglasses. "You think it may turn him into a zombie?"

"…quit making me feel like a retard." Michael hissed with surprising sharpness, and the tone caused the bluenette's eyes to snap open and a slate brow to rise in surprise. "You saw that shit back at the copshop. And the city hall. And in the woods. I don't fucking believe in zombies, okay? I fucking hate those movies, but I know what I goddamn saw and what I saw was a bunch of dead fucking people walking on sunshine trying to rip our fucking throats out!"

Kai said nothing, allowing Michael his freak-out without reproaches. He would neither confirm nor deny the redheads fears, he decided at that moment, his eyes never leaving the broad male as he turned in a small circle, pacing and muttering to himself. He caught the phrase _'…believe this fucking shit..'_ and shook his head. No, for the time Michael was his only back-up, the only one who even stood a chance of holding himself together long enough to find out what was going on. He could not afford to alienate him. He waited in silence, watching and folding his arms across his chest, his hip on the railing as he watched Michael slowly regain his composure.

"…sorry."

"Don't apologize. I'm happy you did that here instead of in there…Michael, the others are weak. You know it, I know it. Kenny is a fucking mechanic with a gun he doesn't know how to use, Tyson is as ditzy as a butterfly and not half as pleasing to the eye, and Miguel couldn't be more of a coward in my eyes right now if he had screamed at the sight of a spider. Right now Michael, you are the only one I can rely on to help me keep this shit together. They're going to look to you when they feel they can't measure up to me-"

"Yeah, you're so awesome, you vain bastard." Michael scoffed with a grin.

"-so I need you to appear as cool and collected and all knowing as I do." He gave the redhead a hard stare, and slowly extended his hand to the other male. "You got my back on this?"

There was a long moment when Kai thought that Michael was as much a lost cause as the others, and as he took a deep breath to dismiss the redhead, he felt the larger hand grasp his tightly and tug him forward. "Don't I always?" Was the rueful mutter he received.

* * *

Tala wondered if the mansion was located near some mountains, because every once in a while he would feel an icy blade stab every inch of his dripping body as a sharp gust of wind blew by. Now that he was following the river northward, he had noticed that the tree line did not flank the river. The few that had probably suffered the same fate as the tree that had saved him from drifting further downriver, and had felt the soft, muddy earth crumble beneath their mighty trunks and topple into the current, to be swept downriver unless snagged by the sharp rocks. Now, as he tried to remain as alert as possible whilst ignoring the bone-numbing cold that made his teeth chatter, he would scan the shrubs and bushes that led towards the trees every once in a while, but everything was deadly quiet.

He didn't know how long he'd been walking; only that his already aching feet had since started to blister, and his tired legs felt as though each muscle was pulled as taut as a bow string. He found it difficult staying focused, and on more than one occasion he had slipped or stumbled over his own feet, hearing the shadows in the woods and feeling the eyes of a thousand invisible predators.

But all that came to an abrupt halt was suddenly confronted by a sharp bend in the river, and to his right a well-beaten footpath that led into the trees. He debated on crossing through the river and continuing North, but his body instantly threatened to rebel and fail him should he force it back into the freezing rapids. He would be able to stand neither the cold nor the force of the strong current, and his body would not save him again. It ignored his minds warnings of creatures in the woods, and led him onto the path, and into the darkness.

He was sure there were things in the woods, but his logical mind told him that that was not true. Perhaps it was the cold, beginning to affect his mental capacities and making him see and hear things. He didn't believe it, but knew if he pretended to, he might be able to make it to the mansion. Who had walked such a worn path? He wondered. Perhaps hikers? No…hikers wouldn't be allowed so near to Biovaults facilities. Maybe by staff on their lunch breaks…did scientists even get lunch breaks? And even if they did, why would they spend it outside when they could stay locked in their obsessively clean and neat labs while they could play with germs and create medicines and cures for diseases most people had never even heard of?

He felt the ground change under his feet, transforming from uneven and slightly sloped into flat, smooth concrete. He couldn't see much, but he paused and stared up at the sky. It took him a few moments to locate the North Star, shining as brilliantly as a freshly cut diamond nestled in dark velvet, and he praised his body for deciding to walk the path over fighting the river. Had he not chosen the path, he realized as he carried on walking, he could have been stuck wandering the woods outside the facility for days or even weeks…if he lasted that long and encountered no more of the strange, rabid dogs he had come so close to dining with back at the police station.

And suddenly the giant trees were gone, and all around him a well-manicured lawn stretched out on all sides of him, as far as the eye could see. And behind that, like a cliff seen from a boat, lay the mansion, its grey stone a dull beacon in the blackness. He stopped walking and did a 360 of the surrounding area, and he froze as he saw the way he had come. Starting at the edge of the road was a wall, a very tall wall, and had Tala not known any better he might have suspected it had been hewn directly from a mountain. But no…he could see the slender slashes of mortar that marred the tightly packed bricks. He could not guess how high it stood, and knew only that if he cloned himself twice and stood atop the shoulders of his clones, his fingertips would still not touch the top of the wall. It appeared to be the same type of brick as the mansion, but he could not be sure from the distance and lack of illumination.

Between the walls was a tall wrought iron gate that Tala hadn't opened, but it only took him a moment to see why. The top of the gate rested slightly shorter than the walls, and as far as he could see it closed until the flat edges of metal rested perfectly against one-another. At least, they _did_ rest against each other until you saw halfway down the gate, which was bent and torn open, the bars folded back on one another and resembling several pairs of large, lean elbows. It appeared he had walked right through the hole without even noticing, which sent a slow chill down his spine. What else hadn't he noticed? He slapped himself quickly to rectify that problem, and cursed as his chattering teeth responded by nipping the tip of his tongue in a quick, sharp 'clack'.

In the otherwise silent estate, it sounded as loud as an explosion. And that was when the shadows moved.

* * *

"Damnit." Ian whined as he felt the needle pierce his torn flesh once more, gritting his teeth and peering at Kai through a slitted eye as the bluenette patiently stitched together a particularly deep slash across the shorter male's chest.

"Tell me again Ian." He requested. "What happened after we left you and Kenny on watch?"

"We were out there…you know I can't talk to that guy. We're opposites. He talks about all these sound waves and frequencies and how delicate the mechanics of a seagull taking a shit are and whatnot. I don't care about that shit, I like bombs and women and cars and women and…Well we weren't talking, but I hear a noise. I thought it was him…I dunno. Asthma or snoring or something, it was like a hiss. But not like a snake hiss y'know? Like a…hiss hiss, I guess."

"Mmhmm, go on." Kai urged, not really listening but attempting to keep the other distracted. The last thing he needed was a squirming patient. He'd only ever had to stitch a wound once, and that had been on himself when he had had a rock-climbing accident. To his count, it had taken 33 stitches to stop the bleeding at his thigh. He was sure a professional would have needed less.

"Well anyway so I lean over and punch his arm, just to wake him up y'know? But the thing is, he burps. He fucking _burps_ and spins around to face me, looking at me like 'what the fuck you do that for?' But the hissing is still going on. He can't shoot worth a shit, you know. I seen him on the range. He's lucky if he gets one in a full clip to even hit the target. So I tell him to stand still and I'd go check it out. It was coming from the left hallway, I remember that. I was walking down there, turned my flashlight on, but couldn't see shit. Wasn't nothing there…but I was like…right on top of that noise.

That's when I felt something knock me to the floor and start clawing at me. It was like it had fucking razor tipped fingers, it shredded right through my shit…wish I'd left the armor on, but damn I thought it was fine, those things didn't seem to have any weapons after all…but this thing just _raped_ my Goddamn ass! I couldn't do shit, and I tried to flip over and I was yelling at Kenny to go get help and it just kept slashing OWMOTHERFU-" Ian erupted loudly as Kai snapped the thread. He let out a low growl as the bluenette sat back on his haunches and continued to inspect his chest. "It just kept coming." He finished.

"I didn't take a good look at it…Michael told me some of these were pretty bad, but after we're done I'll go have a look at the corpse. See how diseased it looks."

To Kai's surprise, the shorter male shook his head, and he was sure he had seen the already pallid skin turn a shade paler. "No. Just leave it. Fuckin' thing probably got dragged off to eat by now…not worth the risk. I think we should just barricade ourselves in here boss, wait for the cavalry. Shit is just getting worse and worse."

"Sir?" The soft whisper drew Kai's attention from the obviously frightened explosives expert, and he turned to Kenny expectantly. "We uhm…we received a radio transmission sir, from Delta. They're on their way."

Kai nodded and closed his eyes, wondering if the feel of a migraine throb felt similar to a baby kicking in the womb, and guessed that the kick paled in comparison to the pain he knew he'd be enduring throughout the night. "How far out are they? And did they say how many?"

"Well…that's sorta the other news sir. I don't know." He began backpedalling as the bluenette rose to his feet, and he raised his hands defensively in front of himself. "S-Sir the radio was barely receiving any signal at all sir, I could barely understand what he said…I was only getting a few words…but he said he had been separated, by what I don't know, but he said he was by the river. I told him to keep heading north and he'd make it. Please don't hurt me."

The frightened plea made Kai stop, and he discovered his hands had been balled into fists, and he stood almost directly in front of the smaller mechanic. He cleared his throat slightly and nodded, straightening and clasping his hands behind his back. "Fair enough. Go and check the security cameras, see if any of them still work and if we can get a visual. We might be able to spot him coming in and meet him before he bumps into any of the things we did."

* * *

Unfortunately for Tala, he had already drawn a host of unwanted attention to himself. It had all started when he had let out that damnable expletive when he had bitten his tongue, and now as he ran he could taste the raw metallic tang burning at the back of his throat as he gasped for air. Training had not prepared him for this sort of stuff. A high-pitched roar had rung around the empty courtyard, and figures he had previously not seen began rising shakily to their feet, as if disturbed from a peaceful slumber. He knew right then that running was the only option, and he had not waited long enough to see how many more would rise before taking off at a sprint that would have put a star track athlete to shame.

He tried following the road towards the mansion that lay ahead, but it suddenly broke off as he reached a large fountain encircled by benches, and the paths deviated offering him the options of left and right. Seeing the increasing mob that was racing along the right path, he pushed himself towards the left, pushing himself as hard as he could and hoping there would be some kind of entrance on the other side. He allowed himself to gaze longingly at the mansion, so close and yet so far, and was distraught to see that the face of the building was in fact not a face, but what most would consider the back of the estate…strange.

Before his eyes the shape of a building began to form, and he wondered if he should run there instead…it was closer, and had to have _some_ kind of entrance…right? But why were the walls glittering? And was that a light? He drew closer and closer, hardly noticing the smooth stone under his feet had turned to slippery, dewy grass, and he groaned as he realized that the building was a greenhouse, and to judge by the broken walls, it had far too many entrances.

There was a loud screech, and his inexperience caused him to falter and snap around. The world spun and his feet twisted around one another, and he felt himself impact with the grass hard. Though slippery and with very little traction, the grass was not all that soft, and instinctively he curled in upon himself as he felt the wind force its way out of his lungs. He gasped and rolled over onto his stomach, struggling for air and urging himself to rise, quickly, before they caught up with him. He could hear their feet pounding on the stone…they could not be too far behind.

What he came face to face with however forced all thoughts of the others from his mind as his eyes widened in horror. He assumed the thing before him was staring at him, but it was hard to tell when all he could see was the empty, blackened sockets of where the things eyes should have been. Through its ruined nose, it emitted a low hissing breath while it nursed a growl at the back of his throat. Two inch long canines were bared at him, and it seemed every tooth was painted with the blood of some unknown victim. Tala calculated in an instant that the creature's lack of sight obviously did not affect its ability to survive and, ultimately, kill.

And he was frightened.

The sound of footsteps were drawing closer.

When the creature before him leaped he dropped flat onto his stomach, instinctively throwing his hands onto his head and screwing his eyes shut. He heard the agonized shriek of a woman and gathered the courage to roll over, only to find the monster clawing viciously at a female on the floor who –instead of trying to push the creature off her- was returning the ineffective slashes and blows to the others head. The effect was minimal and didn't seem to slow the thing at all as its elongated nails threw up thin streaks of blood into the chilly night air as it slashed again and again and again.

He got to his feet and backed away slowly, trying not to draw the attention of the thing atop the woman, or of the small group that had started to form and huddle around the wildly slashing beast, hoping to scrounge some leftovers, no doubt. That was when the low drone filtered through the air, and Tala recognized the voice from the radio. "Whoever you are, run around the back of the house! Someone will let you in! Go quickly, this will distract them! RUN!"

It became apparent, as Tala began to run, that Dizzy had been watching him, either from a window or from footage from one of what he was sure were many security cameras surrounding the area. Obviously he had been unable to recognize the redhead however, but he made sure not to take it personally. At least, not until he rounded the side of the mansion, still running on the grass to minimize the noise he made, only to find a much larger hoard stumbling into a standing position as they heard the sound of Dizzy's voice echoing around the courtyard.

At this point, he figured another few loud expletives couldn't do any more harm. Especially when he heard the heart-stopping shriek of the monster from before. He gazed around, knowing he could not hope to run through all of those creatures and make it to a front door, nor could he turn around and run back the way he came. His eyes alighted on a long, thin strand dangling from what appeared to be a second or third floor window. He bit his lip, and swore to himself that he'd count to five before he made a choice.

He got to three when the shriek sounded once again, much closer than before, and he broke into a run. He wondered how many more times he would have to run for his life before the sun rose, and it was with gritted teeth he made a running jump at the glittering barbed wire that trailed from the window. Unless his hopeful eyes were deceiving him, it appeared to have been smashed. He felt his palms slip as gravity pulled his weight down, and his left hand alighted with pain as one of the barbs tore through the palm of his glove and slashed the meaty flesh beneath. He hissed in pain but forced himself to keep climbing, trying to avoid the barbs but not always succeeding.

When a hand gripped his booted foot and yanked downward, he felt another barb tear deeply once more into his left hand. It released the wire with surprising carelessness, and Tala let out a startled yell as he gazed down into the eyeless face below him. He could feel his grip slipping, and he knew if his right hand was to slide across a barb, all would be lost. He would be found weeks from now when all the dust had settled, torn to shreds and covered in bites, probably with his brain missing…an arm too if the dogs turned up come to think about it…

The clawed hand tugged on his boot once more, and he swung his other foot forward, the steel-capped boot catching the creature off guard and directly in the temple. It feel back with a pained shriek, and Tala took those few precious seconds to re-establish his grip and shimmy himself a foot or so higher. He could feel his left palm constantly sliding down the length of the wire, now slippery with blood and wondered how badly it was torn. He could see more of the things approaching, obviously scenting blood, and they extended their hands up to him. They didn't seem to care they couldn't reach; they simply assumed he would fall sooner or later.

Gritting his teeth, he tried to get a grip of the wire between the treads of his boots, and slowly removed his bloodied hand from the wire. Reaching down to his belt, he tugged off a grenade, stuck the pin between his teeth, and pulled. He did not contemplate the wisdom of this action, he simply acted, his body growing increasingly heavy as it began to realize exactly what kind of trauma it had been put through. He threw it down into the hoard beneath him and once more he made a desperate struggle to climb upwards faster. He kept his eyes steadily above him, forcing himself to keep the window ledge in sight, even as he heard the explosion and felt a burning pain shoot up his spine. He gasped and almost let go, but an image of the woman on the grass flashed in front of his eyes, and he tightened his grip.

The prongs of a barb stabbed mercilessly into the palm of his hand, but by now he was too close. He couldn't stop. He didn't care if he tore up his hands really badly, didn't care much about anything; all he cared about was getting to the window. The wire finally ran up over the ledge, and cautiously, he adjusted his boots to once more attain some sort of grip –even if only for a moment- as he released the wire with his right hand and grasped the ledge firmly. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he thrust his left hand toward the ledge, and for a moment he felt weightless.

The next he was using his elbows to hoist himself inside the window, rolling inside head over feet, his back impacting with the bare hardwood flooring, throwing yellow and purple spots before his eyes before waves of blackness rolled over him and threw him into unconsciousness.


End file.
